Futurum Mechanica

It was midnight, Olita stood in the mag-lev elevator heading up from Kribus, a noble-occupied city with technology far beyond comprehension. What seems like fantasy to everyone, to them was mundane everyday stuff. Olita was a class A mechanic, meaning she worked on devices of all complexities, be they mag-levitators, vehicles, sleeping pods, spaceships, or fusion reactors. The hum of the elevator was quite soothing, the ride took about 10 minutes. At this hour the elevators were usually empty so Olita got to enjoy the scenery and the peace.

She looked out the massive glass wall of the elevator at the incredible scenery of the brightly lit Kribus. Zender sat on her shoulder snacking on a little sausage Olita had given to him prior. Drapeden in comparison was a dark cave, despite being built entirely as a hanging city, on platforms of the magnificent cliff. There was no horizon she could see as the city of Kribus was built inside a ravine, and the Drapeden was a village built by the working class.

The elevator slowed down and then eventually came to a stop with an all too familiar to Olita – ‘ding’. As she got off it she laughed once again – “can’t believe that even after 500 years the elevators still make the same stupid sound”. The paths connecting the platforms of Drapeden were surprisingly unsafe upon first look; they were simply suspended bridges hanging between each platform. Platforms were not too large and could only house a handful of buildings, so the walk was long.

It took Olita approximately 15 minutes to get home but she enjoyed it. Unlike the busy, bright, and loud streets of Kribus, Drapeden was her home, and she felt comfortable there. Zender occasionally jumped off her shoulder and would run on the metal cables of suspended bridges which were crudely bolted onto steel pillars of the platforms. It amused her how with so many technological advancements in Kribus, workers in Drapeden didn’t even know half the luxuries those nobles took for granted daily

She made her way home, the night was quiet and she slept soundly. The next day the alarm woke her, reading 5:15… She looked at Zender who was fast asleep beside her, and then cursed out loud – “ah gods take me down! I forgot to turn the cursed thing off…” 

Since she knew if it was a work day, Zender would be awake by now too, that ferret was way smarter than any other animal she had ever encountered before, and him being asleep meant it was weekend. She angrily got off the bed and sighed

-“Well…since I’m already awake, I might as well head to Kribus and get a tool replacement…” she mumbled to herself before picking Zender by his tail and shaking him awake – “come on lil guy! Wake up! It’s breakfast time” The ferret grabbed onto her hand and crawled up to her shoulder. She poured herself some ‘prefab meal’ and threw it into the converter which converted the disgusting paste into… what could best be described as ‘oil-tasting jello’. “This trash every day…” she mumbled to herself as she ate it.

She finished her meal, packed up her toolbox and tool belt, and ventured out. As she walked over the suspended bridges early in the morning on a weekend she could see the town of drapeden brimming with life. Kids were swinging on their safety harnesses off the sides of the platforms. She looked at Zender who sat on her shoulder and smirked – “can you believe that people in Kribus think of us as barbarians?” Zender, her ferret tilted his head and looked into her eyes

Olita continued – “yeah! They think we’re insane for allowing our kids to swing on safety harnesses from the platforms 500 meters above their precious city. They call us ‘barbarians’ for allowing our kids to partake in such activities. But I mean look at them” she stopped at a suspended bridge and leaned on the steel cable holding it firmly attached to the platform’s pole overlooking the kids hanging on safety harnesses and ropes – “look at their smiles”

She continued onwards and rode the elevator down. Rode a hyper-cart through the underground tunnel to her company’s office and went inside to exchange her tools. All was well and the day seemed fine, but as she headed back outside an alarm sounded all throughout the city as familiar to her hum followed the wailing sirens. The hum of the shield generator which she and her team developed and built. – “Oh what now?” she cussed as she looked at 1 of many holo-monitors which flickered from…

whatever ads they were showing to a news broadcast, a very clean, timid-looking lady in a suit and glasses spoke in the most monotone voice one could imagine “Dear citizens of Kribus and those lesser ones of our race in Drapeden, seek shelter and take cover, a massive sandstorm is approaching.” The monotone voice annoyed Olita as she noticed a red line with white text scrolling at the bottom ‘All class A and B mechanics are to report to the city administration for further instructions. 

She laughed to herself -“of course.. even my weekend has to go to shit with these pricks and their constant demands” she did as instructed and a moment later her hand buzzed with the same alert message. She muted the alert and walked to the city center when suddenly the shield which was almost up crackled, buzzed, and then the hum of the generator died down. Her pet Zender began to jump on her shoulder as she patted him – “I know, I see it too, those morons broke our generator!”

IN the city generator mechanics were being grouped up and sent out on hyper-carts. She didn’t have time to ask what was going on before she found herself sitting in a cart with 3 other class A mechanics, 2 of whom she recognized and the other was from a different sector. Her group was sent to the shield generator and instructions were passed to them on the tablet that the generator malfunctions and they were to troubleshoot it. “No shit!” cussed Olita as she walked through the security post

As she approached the generator, a teacher of clearly inept and barely trained mechanics led her to the control room who kept trying to talk over each other and explain the gauge readings, none of which made any sense to her – “Alright shut up you idiots! Don’t say another word before I apply my plasma cutter to your throats! Just show me the readings”. 

A short moment later she stood in the control room, reading through the logs – “Oh, of course, these morons tried to power the generator to stage 5”

1 of the mechanics who worked with her on the generator laughed – “Stage 5 from the get-go after 2 months of inactivity? No wonder the damned thing blew up… goddamn morons can’t even read basic instructions.. Well, chief, time for work” She chuckled – “when was the last time these nobles did NOT screw something simple up?” as 1 of the noble engineers, wearing a white and gold decorated overcoat spoke – “excuse you but a thermo-nuclear powered energy generator is hardly a ‘basic’ thing!”

As the mechanics began their work on the shield generator, Olita noticed Zender running off, stopping, turning, and staring at her, she knew that every time he did it meant he wished for her to follow. She excused herself from the team and followed. To her surprise, the ferret took her through some back corridors and into a dark lab that had a strange, circular device in the middle. “Hah! That looks like a po….rtal…. no way” she said as her eyes widened. She quickly activated the consoles

And read through the logs. She was an expert at skimming through logs and upon a quick glance, she could tell this was indeed a portal. Problem was, the idiots tried to power it off of the shield generator’s power source which was built to be a self-sustaining isolated system and not meant to power anything else due to how the energy and magnetic fields of it aligned with the shield generator. Any interference would fry it. She smirked as she read the only ‘success’ log she could find.

‘Day 77, test 178, success! The portal activated for approximately 5 seconds. From the other side an object flew into the room, a pickaxe. Structural analysis showed that the metal of the tool was not a complicated  alloy but a basic one, indicating the possibility of time discrepancy between point A and point B of the portal.’ She grinned, her eyes shone, her heart beat faster – “a portal… they made a working portal!” She began analyzing the system structure and power flow.

After approximately 15 minutes of analysis, a loud screech was heard from outside and the building’s lights went out, backup systems kicked in as expected and the area was illuminated with red lights now. – “The storm must’ve ripped the turbines out, I’ve to hurry”. Zender sat beside her when suddenly she exclaimed – “GOT IT! If we divert the primary power source to use the rail system’s power and the secondary power source to utilize the space elevator, we’ll be able to activate the portal for…..”

She paused for a moment – “approximately 10 minutes!” That’ll suffice! I’m doing this! Zender, find me the main system power cable and the passing lanes of the city!” Zender swiftly jumped off her shoulder and ran over to the wall where he began scratching – “city lines?” the ferret wagged its tail – “got it” she drilled through the wall with her portable plasma cutter until she could see the cables.

About 10 minutes of quick work later she had the power re-routed as she had planned and she activated the systems, following the logged activation sequence she soon found herself standing before a brightly glowing, humming and pulsating swirling energy mass held in shape by the ring around it. Zender approached the portal hesitantly and sniffed it when suddenly something smashed and the building shook violently – “that’s not supposed to happen!” Olita exclaimed before switching her gaze back.

A moment later another loud screech filled the air, the same moment Zender rushed to Olite, bit her pants and began pulling her towards the portal. Surprised by his eagerness to flee she trusted him, she knew that whatever was happening, wasn’t going to end well, she nodded, grabbed him, and sprinted for the portal, leaping through it, behind her she could hear something crashing. A blinding flash and a loud hiss and hum made her faint.

She awoke from unfamiliar speech and being touched. As she opened her eyes, a man in a ragged robe knelt beside her, his hand on her forehead. He smiled when he noticed her awake and said something which she couldn’t understand. She slowly sat up and looked around. She found herself laying on the grass outside of a massive stone building. The man before her ever so slightly resembled her of a tech-adept, religious folk whom everybody stayed away from, they believed that god granted people the machine

She shook her head as she took another look at the crudely built stone building and then mumbled to herself – “nah…tech adepts wouldn’t build something so…basic” she looked at the man again who was bold, wearing a black raggedy robe, he smiled at her again and stood up, offering his hand to help her up. She took it and nodded – “so.. where am i?” she spoke to the man in a calm tone. Zender crawled up to her shoulder and looked around cautiously.

The man tilted his head and again spoke in a language she couldn’t understand – ‘great… the portal DID work… but now I’m in a land where I don’t understand the language… just great!’ She thought as the man took a few steps past her and motioned for her to follow.

She followed him and found herself walking into the massive stone building, the man kept telling her something and she caught onto an often repeating word ‘cathedral’. The structure was magnificent but it was clear that it was built with relatively primitive tools and machinery, no laser cutting and material deposition technology was used. ‘Incredible! I’m either in a continent where technology didn’t evolve or in a different timeline altogether!’ she thought to herself as she followed the guide.

He took her to an infirmary where she assumed to be a ‘medic’ checked in on her wellbeing. He checked her for basic concussion and any visible injuries. After a short talk among themselves, the 1st man led her onwards to a cafeteria where even more people who were dressed like him were eating soup.

She sat down and a bowl of hot soup was brought to her, a basic meat soup with potatoes, but hell if it didn’t taste better than the oily jello she was so used to eating. SHe devoured bowl after bowl and learned a few new words. Apparently, the people in this ‘cathedral’ are called ‘monks’

She then spent several hours in their workshop where the craftsmen with basic tools were taken aback by her alien to them tools and technology. A portable plasma cutter that could cut through rock and steel in a matter of seconds and was the size of a large lighter surely would surprise people who had steel saws and hammers only. 

She enjoyed their attention and shortly later was taken to the library where a ‘nun’ named ‘Joy’, or so she assumed it to be her name, either name or title, showed her around.

A day passed swiftly and adventurously. Somehow, Olita found this strange land much more comfortable than her busy life at Drapeden. She had no family left and no one to miss, her best friend was with her, he brought her here after all. “Strange how you found the portal and then led me through it, Zender, what are you hiding, little ferret?” she asked him as she rested in her bed for the night. The ferret only squealed a little, yawned, and then curled up beside her.

On the next day, she was taken by the monks to town, to a craftsman who measured her body. A marketplace under the blue sky where they sold strange things people called ‘apples’ and ‘pears’ which were juicy and delicious. She tried a ‘potato’ as well but that didn’t taste too good…crunchy and strange. A few days later she presented robes similar to those “joy” wore and she found herself assisting the craftsmen in the basement of the cathedral, crafting away tools and necessities, learning.

Weeks passed, and then months. She was learning their traditions and language fast. She found herself helping Joy out in the evenings cleaning up the library, able to hold basic conversations with her. Joy was the only other female in this cathedral and she enjoyed her welcoming nature and kindness. Joy would stay late nights with Olita teaching her their language.

Another couple of months passed, and winter was upon this city. Olita and Joy were sent out to buy some supplies and food for the cathedral and really enjoyed their time together.  Joy pulled Olita by the hand and chuckled – “It’s going to snow! Come with me I’ll show you something” Olita followed her without hesitation. Shortly the 2 found themselves standing at the wall’s watch tower, watching the forest as the sun was slowly setting and the snow began to fall.

Joy leaned against Olita’s shoulder as Zender crawled out of Olita’s pocket and onto joy, into her basket, looking out of it into the barren looking forest. Olita stood silently enjoying the moment, as did Joy. A few minutes passed but it felt like a long time to them, Joy suddenly jumped and exclaimed – “right! we should buy the supplies and return before sunset else the head monk will scold us” Olita chuckled and walked to the ladder -“last one to the market has to wash Zender!” she chuckled

Couple more weeks passed, and Olita found herself trying to spend as much time with Joy as possible. Having taught the craftsmen of the cathedral all she could, she asked to change her position to help Joy at the library which was accepted and allowed.

Shortly after the 2 found themselves confessing their love to each other. A secret romance between the 2 nuns at the cathedral. Joy explained that such relationships are forbidden by the church but Olita didn’t care – “I can provide for us! The monks paid me well for teaching them! I’ll buy us a house, and open my own workshop! We can leave this place any time” She explained to Joy who hesitated but seemed inspired by the idea, and so the 2 began planning their leave.

Spring has come and so did the time for them to leave the comfort of the cathedral. Olita purchased land by the riverbank in the farmlands by the town and over the course of spring and summer, with the help of monks she built their house there. Right by the forest and the river. Their only neighbors were farmers who tended the fields. Olita and Joy found themselves living in their cozy house by the end of the summer. A small workshop attached to the house where Olita worked on custom orders

Life was calm and all was well, until one day…. Olita walked into her room to find Zender…with another ferret… a pregnant female ferret lay on the bed, and Zender sat beside her. Olita knew what that meant, their family was about to grow.

Months passed and then years. Olita was happily living in this medieval city with her wife Joy, in a house she built herself, living a calm life crafting gadgets and devices, teaching principles of machinery in the local school, with her best friend Zender, his wife and 7 younger ferrets. Life was great but Olita still found herself occasionally missing standing on the suspended bridges and admiring the brightly glowing city of  Kribus, the hum of elevators and the whirling of the turbines.

And thus the story of the travel to the past by our brave mechanic Olita comes to an end. It is said that Joy and Olita still find themselves living the happy, calm life they both so desired. An unlikely end of a mechanic from the future and a nun from the past.

Thank you all for your time and attention.